Trade Shows

Two shows, two continents and multiple orders

30/09/2014

The Baby Products Association has just concluded the busiest month of its year hosting UK Pavilions at two significant international shows – ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas and Kind und Jugend in Cologne.

This is the second year that members joined forces at the USA show and whilst the clash of dates with Kind und Jugend affected the number of attendees, all of the participants reported a hugely successful event. ABC Kids Expo places exhibitors before a very different buying audience to European shows, with a significant visitor presence from not only North American regions but diverse areas of South America and Canada too.

Simon Anslow, UK Pavilion co-ordinator at the show, commented: “All participants reported excellent results and some stands were incredibly busy for the entire duration gaining a large number of orders, distributor deals and for one company, a potentially lucrative licensing agreement too.

“The BPA networking event was well attended and welcomed a number of other UK companies exhibiting outside of the UK Pavilion which expressed an interest in joining the BPA group next year, as well as a number of high profile buyers.”

Now in its sixth year, the UK Pavilion at Kind und Jugend was the biggest ever covering a staggering 2,500 square metres with more than 65 exhibitors participating. Early feedback suggests an even busier show than 2013, with an average of 70 potential leads taken by each company.

The UK Pavilion was hosted by Robert Anslow, BPA managing director, and Julie James, BPA membership and technical support manager and organised by Adrian Sneyd who remarks: “Each year since the BPA’s first participation at Kind und Jugend in 2009, we believe that the UK Pavilion has reached its limit in terms of size and exhibitor numbers – and then it surpasses all expectations yet again. This year is no exception and the scale of the ‘British community’ was impressive to say the least.”

The UK Pavilion coffee and networking arena, sponsored by Emma’s Diary, buzzed with activity as exhibitors met with buyers to discuss business and housed two informative seminars by leading market research company GFK. It also provided the venue for the hugely popular networking event which took place on the first evening of the show.

Adrian continues: “With the majority of participants planning to return again next year and numerous enquiries from new companies wanting to jump on board in 2015, we can only speculate continued growth of the UK Pavilion at Kind und Jugend in the future.”

Hannah Batham of Belt Upp was delighted with her experience, stating: “We felt that the whole thing was not only organised by the BPA perfectly, but the UK Pavilion looked brilliant and really did show the rest of the world what we are made of! Great job, well done to everyone involved.”